The cost effectiveness of improving health and reducing offending among recently released prisoners in Australia

Project Details

We aim to:

Estimate the changes to total economic costs and health-related outcomes including quality of life and mortality from widespread adoption of the 'Passports to Advantage' intervention; and

Make generalised predictions about the relative value for money of this intervention to inform policy decisions in the health, social services and justice sectors.

Project summary

Ex-prisoners face high risk of poor health and social outcomes in the community, and Indigenous people are over-represented in prison population by a factor of 15. The 'Passports to Advantage' intervention aims to improve the capacity of ex-prisoners, to use health care and community support services. Nationwide adoption of the intervention will be costly, but can change health service use and health outcomes among ex-prisoners. There is currently no evidence to address the policy decision of whether the intervention should be widely adopted.